Director Eli Gorn's film, ‘Copy
right: Leonard Frank', is a film about the human spirit of one man, and
how he rose above adversity to capture the beauty of a Province. Leonard
Frank came to Canada from German in 1892, at the age of 22. He came via
San Francisco, where he was lured by the dream of striking it rich during
the great gold rush. By the time Leonard arrived in San Francisco, stakes
had been claimed and fortunes made.

Leonard Frank was an optimist,
so when he heard that gold was being found a steamship ride away in a
place called Vancouver, made his way north. Again, Frank, found that the
gold had already been found. He, however, fell in love with Vancouver
Island, the magic of the mountains, and the sense of impending economic
prosperity. Vancouver was a small town on the verge of greatness. Frank
stayed. If there wasn't gold on Vancouver Island, there was copper. So,
he staked a claim for a copper mine, but was unable to survive on just
the mining. He worked as a grocer, small business man, guide, and lumberjack.

It was while working in a logging
camp near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, that fate stepped in. He bought
a ticket in a lottery and won. First prize was a camera. It was as though
his life had gone full circle. Frank's father had been a professional
photographer in Berne, German, a village of roughly 750 people on the
Dutch border. Leonard had apprenticed with his father and learned the
craft of photography before setting off to seek his fortune in America.

With the skill of a professional
photographer, the eye of an artist, and the love of the landscape, Frank
spent the next fifty years photographing every day life events and the
coast line of British Columbia. His nearly 50,000 images captured a now
vanished British Columbia. His photographs, German heritage and propensity
to photograph isolated places around the province, raised people's suspicions
during World War I. He faced public ridicule, scorn and ostracization
during those years, and he was accused of everything from being a foreign
spy to indecent assault. His reputation destroyed, Frank left Port Alberni
for Vancouver.

After the war, Frank became
the official photographer for the West Coast of the Dominion of Canada.
He photographed dignitaries, Royalty and everyday people. He became the
most sought after photographer in the rapid growing city of Vancouver.
His experience during World War I may have shown him the ugly side of
human nature, but his spirit and eye for beauty were not diminished. Frank
took some of the most extraordinary pictures of British Columbia. Pictures
which are still considered some of the greatest photographic images of
Canada's West Coast. Frank's sense of beauty, his gaze towards the mountain
peaks, helped to define Canada as a nation.